The conventional progressive wisdom is that the Trump Administration will be bad for cities and for transit users. But in recent decades, a unified Republican government has been better for public transit than a divided government.

An efficient and equitable transport system must be diverse to serve diverse travel demands. Planners need better tools to quantify and communicate the benefits of walking, cycling and public transit to sometimes skeptical decision makers.

Friday Funny: America the Beautiful...Parking Lot

Satirical newspaper The Onion has released the results of a nationwide poll to determine what the country's residents associate with the word "America". Rather than apple pie, the flag, or baseball, the resounding choice was a strip mall parking lot.

"A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that, when asked to provide their immediate reaction to the sound of the word 'America,' 98 percent of respondents replied by describing the sight of a near-empty parking lot of a decrepit suburban strip mall on a late February afternoon," writes The Onion.

“We've found that in nearly all instances the image that comes to peoples' minds within milliseconds of the word ‘America’ being said is a small strip mall in northern Virginia, southern Missouri, or possibly somewhere outside of Indianapolis, featuring a checks cashed place, a cell-phone store, and an L.A. Tan with three customers inside,” said lead researcher Graham Tierney . . ."

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